Whenever I go see my best friend and his family, we always try to go to a certain restaurant Coney Island. The problem that we face is that I usually only visit during school breaks and the restaurant is rarely open during school breaks. So we have to roll the dice and drive by to see if it is open for us to go. Many times we have wound up disheartened to find the dreaded sign “Closed for ______ Break.”
I’m sure it’s a feeling we’re all familiar with… The one you get when the sign on the door reads “Closed.” Well, that’s a feeling I’m living with this month. Here I am on this grand adventure to share my joy with people and the sign on the entire country reads “Closed.” Conversations are carefully worded; the topics I’d love to talk about are skirted around; Books are read in secret. It’s easy to become disheartened…
Until you stop listening to the words and narrow your focus to what can be seen instead of heard. In short, it becomes about the actions. And actions truly speak louder than words! The students we talk to and the people we meet show us a hunger for knowledge unlike I have ever seen before. They also show us a willingness to share about their culture and their country that is amazing! They show us the same desire to love and to be loved that we have seen everywhere.
Therein lies our challenge: not to just talk about the love that brought us here (because that’s not the safest idea), but to really get the chance to SHOW it; to allow everyone that we come in contact with to experience it and to want to learn more about it. We have the best opportunity in this country because they ask us to put our words into action and that’s the best opportunity we can ask for!!
Could you accept the same challenge? Would you being willing to, wherever you are, show someone that actions truly are louder than words? I’m looking forward to finding new ways to fulfill this challenge this month!!
